Charges Spur Clergy Debate On Discipline

Criminal charges against a Newport News minister have raised debate among local clergy about the use of corporal punishment by parents and other authority figures when disciplining a child.

Carey Brown, pastor of St. Timothy Church of Christ (Holiness U.S.A.) in Newport News was charged with one count of misdemeanor assault last week after the mother of an 11-year-old child brought the child to Brown to be disciplined. Church members say the child is a distant relative of Brown's. A bruise that may have been caused by a belt led to the child's school contacting Child Protective Services.

Brown's date to appear in Newport News Juvenile Court has not been set.

The Rev. Dwight Riddick, pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Newport News, is one of several local ministers voicing their support for Brown and a responsible use of corporal punishment.

"I've known him for years and I don't think that he would maliciously assault a child," Riddick says. "That's not in him."

Riddick says there is a place for spanking in a child's development, as long as it does not cross the line into abuse.

"Never chastise a child when you're mad or upset," Riddick says. "Avoid problem areas of contact with a child. These are two danger areas that were not present in the case against Elder Brown."

Riddick is not alone in supporting Brown.

"The preachers of this community do need to support each other when they're in the right," says R.A. Hunter, presiding bishop of Getting Ready for God Ministries in Newport News. "And we believe strongly that he is in the right."

Hunter cites the biblical passage from the Book of Proverbs as providing an option for dealing with difficult kids.

That passage says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."

"If he had permission to chastise the child," Hunter says, "then that's not an assault."

But thoughts about corporal punishment vary.

Some see spanking as a breeding ground for spousal, child and elder abuse, if not just a cop-out by a parent. Corporal punishment that leaves a bruise, says Monsignor Michael McCarron, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Newport News, "is simply not in the spirit of Jesus and is inexcusable."

The Rev. Randolph Becker of Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists says in his tradition there is no place for spanking.

"Corporal punishment of children is an imposition of a hierarchical system of thinking in which might makes right," Becker says. "It is the breeding ground of spousal abuse, aged parent abuse, and the general malaise of societal violence which continues the tradition of justifying the power to inflict physical harm by ignoring the essential worth and dignity of every person."

More conservative clergy members say corporal punishment can be one of many options for parents as long as it's done, says the Rev. Tommy Davidson of Riverside Baptist Church in Newport News, in a "wise, firm, loving and careful" manner.

Hunter sees stern forms of discipline as a way of steering children away from the criminal-justice system. In his generation, the 56-year-old Hunter says, parents used belts, switches and other items to discipline children. "Going to sleep without supper was done after the physical discipline."

"We need a discipline of children that you don't find by taking a time-out," Hunter says. "Without being strict, kids do end up with time out -- but that's a time out in jail."

Cindy Davis, local author and a teacher at a Hampton Christian school, says the question about how best to discipline a child sparked discussion at home.

"I am not sure exactly what would motivate someone to call in a clergy member to administer corporal punishment -- although I can imagine some plausible scenarios," Davis says.

Corporal punishment, Davis says, should be used sparingly.

"Esteemed child experts such as James Dobson tell parents to use corporal punishment on strong-willed children," Davis says.

Dobson, a conservative nationally-syndicated radio personality and president of Focus on the Family, wrote a book on the subject called "Dare to Discipline" that differentiates corporal punishment from child abuse. Punishment is OK, abuse is not, he says.

In response to a question about corporal punishment on his Web site, Dobson replies, "The American media has worked to convince the public that all spanking is tantamount to child abuse and therefore, should be outlawed. If that occurs, it will be a sad day for families, and especially for children."

Andrew J. Billups, a licensed clinical psychologist in Newport News, says he strongly opposes spanking. "There is no research evidence that striking a child is a good idea," Billups says.

"You can get a child to comply like that," he says, "but afterward there's a seething resentment that's likely to manifest."

Dobson's Focus on the Family disagrees. As Davidson says, "The broad sweep of Scripture suggests that physical discipline should be but one part of a total package of child-rearing that includes intimate attachment, warm affirmation and clear instruction in boundaries."

One mother who attends St. Timothy Church of Christ says spanking and other mild forms of physical discipline are sometimes necessary. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says the charges against Brown won't stop her daughter's participation in the church-run Homework Club. She says that a lack of discipline may be responsible for larger, societal problems.

"The reason why we're having the problems we have with kids is because the judicial system and Child Protective Services have taken authority away from the parents," the mother says.